The present invention generally relates to multimedia content sharing and transfers. More specifically, the invention relates to one or more systems and methods for transferring, streaming, authorizing, rendering, and recording visual, textual, graphical, and/or audible multimedia information in an interoperable multiple display device environment. Furthermore, the invention also relates to a novel multimedia set-top box configured to accommodate the multimedia content sharing and transfers. In addition, the invention also relates to a method of determining a multimedia content transfer target device when one or more novel multimedia set-top boxes are operating together with a plurality of potential transfer target devices.
Various consumer electronic devices in today's digital age are capable of downloading, executing, or uploading multimedia information. For example, smart phones, tablet computers, notebook computers, and Internet-connected “smart” televisions in recent years are frequently utilized for video and audio download, upload, and playback in a broadband data network-connected environment. As more consumers own and simultaneously operate a plurality of multimedia data-executable electronic devices in a typical home or office environment, seamless, immediate, and convenient multimedia data transmission, reception, recording, playback authorizations, and playback among the consumer's plurality of multimedia data-executable electronic devices are increasingly becoming more important and desirable. Unfortunately, a satisfying level of seamless, immediate, and convenient multimedia data sharing and playback interoperability among various electronic devices in a real-life home or office environment is difficult to achieve due to various factors. For example, system software or communication protocol incompatibilities among various electronic devices, misconfigured digital rights management (DRM) programs, and hardware incompatibilities among a plurality of electronic devices often prevent seamless and immediate sharing or playback of multimedia data among various devices that a consumer operates in today's home or office environment.
Furthermore, conventional user command methods and user interfaces for transmitting or receiving multimedia data from one device to another in today's home or office environment typically require fidgeting with both transmitting and receiving devices and various device settings to establish interoperable multimedia data communications. A cumbersome current state of the art in configuring the multiple device interoperability discourages a typical consumer from making any available multimedia playback devices fully interoperable for multimedia data transfer, sharing, and playback in a typical home or office environment.
Therefore, it may be advantageous to devise a novel intermediary set-top box that can provide seamless, immediate, and convenient interoperability and multimedia data transfer among a plurality of electronic devices in a multiple display device environment. Furthermore, it may also be advantageous to devise a method of determining a multimedia content transfer target device, when one or more novel multimedia set-top boxes are operating together with a plurality of potential transfer target devices for multimedia content sharing in a home or office multiple display device environment.